Cardenas

How does Cardenas compare with other K-12 school buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 543 K-12 school buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Cardenas's ENERGY STAR score of 5 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 3% of them and lower than 97%. Its site EUI of 70.0 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 72.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 9.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 58% above the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 65,670 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1972, 29 years later than the group's average year built (1943). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Cardenas's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Cardenas, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 17 in 2015 to 5 in 2023 (-12 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 69. Site EUI moved from 60.1 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 70.0 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 16% increase. Reported emissions went from 793 tCO₂e to 643 tCO₂e over the same span (down 19%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 5 mean?

ENERGY STAR scores run from 1 to 100 and are computed by the EPA's Portfolio Manager as a percentile against similar buildings nationwide, adjusted for climate, size and use: a score of 5 means the building performs better than about 5% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 5 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 70 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In Chicago, 35% of scored buildings are at 75 or above.

Site energy-use intensity (EUI) is the energy a building uses on site in a year divided by its floor area, in thousand Btu per square foot — lower is more efficient. Cardenas's 70.0 kBtu/ft² across 65,670 sq ft works out to about 4.6 billion Btu (1,347 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 196.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,347,252 kWh of electricity for the year.

Which law requires Cardenas to report its energy use?

Cardenas reports under the Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance, the legal basis of the Chicago Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2023 disclosure (source record chicago:251911:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.